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‘Punch a TERF’ Rhetoric Encourages Violence Against Women

Maria MacLachlan, a feminist activist, was physically assaulted by trans activists and their allies – which is the logical outcome of their threats to “punch TERFS.” This violence in the feminist movement we are currently witnessing never, EVER existed until transwomen became mainstream in the feminist movement. Note, transmen do not participate in this violence and threats of violence. All of this comes from transwomen – not because they are trans, but because they are MALE. All of the “punch TERFs” shit is the PINNACLE of male socialization within patriarchy. If this introduction of violence and violent rhetoric into a movement isn’t evidence enough to prove that transwomen haven’t “always been women” – that that line of thinking is illogical – I don’t know what is. Historically, feminists who have disagreed with one another have never threatened to rape one another or punch one another in the ways in which the transwomen in this article have threatened over social media (scan down in the article, and it is just one example). There hasn’t even been violence between left and right wing women who disagree because the violence we are currently witnessing is not part of female socialization. Hence the lack of transmen threatening and perpetrating violence against feminists – they are females who have been socialized female – and some of whom have been the victims of rape by transwomen, such as Cherno Biko, who openly admitted to raping his transman partner to force her to become pregnant with the non-binary baby Cherno so desired. And he committed this crime not because he was trans – many trans individuals would abhor this violence- but because he is a male who grew up in a society in which males are socialized to believe they have a right to female bodies for reproductive purposes. I am very, very worried for the future of the feminist movement, as we just witnessed a feminist get beaten up by other self-proclaimed feminists. And because I have never believed transwomen should be centered in feminism, and because I believe that reproductive rights should always be the foundation of feminism (because loss of them is the foundation of patriarchy), I would be considered a TERF to be punched.

A brief foreword. This is the sixth of my essays on sex, gender, and sexuality. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 available here.) I suspect it’s also the least polished, as I was shaken by the assault of Maria MacLachlan and wrote this to work through my thoughts, but it was written from a place of truth.

My grandmother is a brilliant woman. She is clever, compassionate, and unfailingly kind. She is selfless, generous with her time, and loyal to those she loves. I have lived with my grandmother since birth – during childhood she read me Swallows and Amazons at night, sat by the pool during my swimming lessons, and took me to the cinema to see Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – the film which opened my eyes to the magic of cinema as a child. Nana also sat through Shrek and…